A FAMILY SCENE. 59 



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. niffs up the air, especially taking notice of the wind and its direction. 

 It will then, perhaps, change the direction of its course ; and after 

 running for some distance take another observation. Presently it will 

 spy out a blade of grass, or similar object, pluck it up, turn it on all 

 sides, smell it, and then go forward again. And thus the animal proceeds 

 until it leads the party to water ; guided by some mysterious instinct 

 which appears to be totally independent of reasoning, and which loses its 

 powers in proportion as reason gains dominion. 



Captain Drayson, an English artillery officer, gives some interesting 

 accounts of the Chacma. 



" During the shooting trip with the Boers, I awoke before daybreak, 

 and as I felt very cold and not inclined to sleep, I got up, and taking my 

 gun, walked to a little ravine, out of which a clear, murmuring stream 

 flashed in the moonlight, and ran close past our outspan. A little dis- 

 tance up this kloof, the fog was dense and thick ; the blue and pink 

 streaks of the morning light were beginning to illuminate the peaks of 

 the Draakensberg, but all immediately around us still acknowledged the 

 supremacy of the pale moonlight. I wanted to see the sun rise in this 

 lonely region, and watch the changing effects which its arrival would 

 produce on the mountains and plains around. 



" Suddenly I heard a hoarse cough, and on turning, saw indistinctly 

 in the fog a queer little old man standing near, and looking at me. I 

 instinctively cocked ni}' gun, as the idea of bushmen and poisoned arrows 

 flashed across my mind. The old man instantly dropped on his hands ; 

 giving another hoarse cough, that evidently told a tale of consumptive 

 lungs ; he snatched up something beside him, which seemed to leap on 

 his shoulders, and then he scampered off up the ravine on all-fours. 

 Before half this performance was completed, I saw that the little old 

 man was an Ursine baboon with an infant ditto. 



" A large party of the old gentleman's family were sitting up the 

 ravine, and were evidently holding a debate as to the cause of my intru- 

 sion. I watched them through my glass, and was much amused at their 

 grotesque and almost human movements. Some of the old ladies had 

 their olive branches in their laps, and appeared to be 'doing their hair,' 

 while a patriarchal old fellow paced backwards and forwards with a 

 fussy sort of look ; he was evidently on sentry, and seemed to think 

 himself of no small importance. 



" This estimate of his dignity did not appear to be universally ac- 



